First he had to take control. He pointed into the living room. “Go on in while I talk to Ms. Patton.”
Jade hurried past him, probably relieved to get inside where it was warm. Madeline Patton stared over his shoulder, watching the girl hurry inside, the dog following behind her. He didn’t know Madeline Patton, other than in passing, but he imagined that momentarily she’d have a few choice things to say to him.
Madeline watched Jade walk into the living room and then she turned her attention back to Jackson Cooper. He remained in the doorway, faded jeans and a button-up shirt, his hair going in all directions. Her heart seemed to be following the same path, but mostly was begging for a quick exit from this situation.
Although she didn’t really know Jackson Cooper, she thought she knew him. He was the type of man that believed every woman in the world loved him. Well, maybe this would teach him a lesson.
The thought no more than tumbled through her mind and her conscience took a dig at her. This situation shouldn’t be about a lesson learned. A child deserved more than this.
And Jackson Cooper wasn’t the worst person in the world. He’d come to her rescue last week when a bag of groceries had broken, spilling canned goods across the parking lot of the store. He’d been fishing and was suntanned and smelled of the outdoors and clean soap and was on his way home, but he’d stopped to gather up her spilled groceries, holding them in his T-shirt as he carried them to her car.
Jade had disappeared into the living room. Time for Madeline to make her exit.
“If you have this under control, I should go.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to be at work in an hour.”
The wind blew, going straight through her. She pulled her sweater close and stomped her booted feet. Jackson nodded, distracted. Even distracted he could make a woman take a second look.
His suntanned face was angular but strong. Fine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes, eyes that were nearly the same color as Jade’s; a little more gray than green. His mouth, the mouth that often turned in an easy, gotcha smile, was now held in a serious line.
“I really need to go.” Madeline didn’t know what else to say, or how to remove herself from this situation, this moment.
“Could you stay, just until I figure this out?” Jackson’s words stopped her as she started to turn away. “Please.”
Softer, a little more pleading.
Reluctant, Madeline looked at the cowboy leaning against the door as if he needed it to hold him up. She’d heard the ambulance going down the road the other day when he got hurt. They had prayed for him at her Thursday Bible study.
A smile almost sneaked up on her because his grandmother prayed for him, too. The woman who had sold her little house to Madeline never failed to mention Jackson when prayer requests were made on Sunday mornings at the Dawson Community Church. Sometimes she even included fun little details about his social life. Once or twice Madeline had heard a gasp from various members of the church.
He cleared his throat. She looked up, met his humor-filled gaze and managed a smile.
“I think it would be better if you called your family, Jackson.” There, she’d been strong. She could walk away. He had people to help him.
“Right, that sounds like a great idea.” He no longer smiled. “If I wanted them all over here in my business, that would be the perfect thing to do.”
“They’re probably going to find out about her anyway, since she stopped at the Mad Cow and asked for directions. Unfortunately she was one house off.”
Madeline couldn’t figure out how anyone could confuse her little house on two acres with this house on hundreds of acres. She felt tiny on the long front porch of the vast, white farmhouse that Jackson Cooper had remodeled. His grandparents had built this house after their marriage. But his grandfather had grown up in the little house Madeline bought from his grandmother.
The Coopers had a long history in Dawson, Oklahoma.
Her legacy was teaching at School District Ten, and building a home for herself in Dawson. And this time she planned on staying. She wouldn’t run.
“Give us thirty minutes, Madeline.” Jackson’s voice didn’t plead, but he sounded pretty unsure. It was that tone that took her by surprise, unsettled her.
She wondered how it felt to be him and have control stripped away by a thirteen-year-old girl. It was for that girl that she even considered staying.
She hadn’t been much older than Jade when she’d found herself in a new home and a new life. She would always remember how her sister had dragged her from bed, leading her through the dark, to safety.
“I’ll come in for a moment, but I don’t know how that will help.”
“Me neither, but I don’t think you should leave her here alone.”
“She isn’t my—” Madeline lowered her voice “—problem. I don’t know her. She says she’s your daughter.”
“Right, I get that, but let’s assume she isn’t and play this safe.”
Okay, maybe he wasn’t as reckless as she had always imagined.
“So, are you a decent cook?” he asked as he led her into his expansive living room with polished hardwood floors and massive leather furniture. The dog and Jade were sitting on the couch, huddled together.
“I don’t have time to cook.” Madeline tried hard not to stare, but the house invited staring. It had the sparseness of a bachelor’s home but surprising warmth.
“Just asking, sorry.” He smiled at Jade then at her. “So, what are we going to do?”
“Do?” Better yet, “we”? He didn’t need to include her in this problem.
“Yeah, do. I mean, we should probably call someone. Family services?”
“That’s a decision you’ll have to make.”
“Right.” He pointed for her to sit down.
Madeline sank into the luxurious softness of one of the two brown leather sofas. The one opposite had a blanket and pillow indicating he’d been sleeping there.
No Christmas tree. No decorations.
Jackson stood in the center of the living room. The light that filtered through the curtains caught bits and pieces of his expression as he stared at the young girl sitting on his sofa. They stared at each other and then both glanced away.
Madeline didn’t know how to help. She could deal with children in a classroom. This seemed to be more of a family situation. And she had no experience with those.
“Maybe you should sit down?” She didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t her home. Jackson stood in the center of the room, hands in his pockets. When she made the suggestion, he nodded once. Jade, sitting next to her, gave a disgusted snort.
Madeline sighed. She glanced around the big room, because the silence was uncomfortable and she wanted to head for the door. She glanced at her watch and then looked around the room again. A big stone fireplace took up the wall at the end of the room. The fire that crackled came from gas logs, not wood. A television hung over the fireplace. The walls were textured and painted a warm, natural color. If it hadn’t been for the nervous energy of Jackson Cooper standing there staring at her, and then at the girl claiming to be his daughter, Madeline might have enjoyed being in this room.
Jackson moved a chair from the nearby rolltop desk and straddled it backward. He draped his arms over the back rest and sat there, staring at Jade. His legs were stretched out in front of him. His feet were bare.
Madeline picked